Rock Art

Spanning three decades worth of astute, acerbic, and overall astounding music writing, Kick Out the Jams is the first large-scale anthology of the work of renowned critic Dave Marsh. Ranging from Elvis Presley to Kurt Cobain, from Nina Simone to Ani DiFranco, from the Beatles to Green Day, the book gives an opinionated, eye-opening overview of 20th-century popular music—offering a portrait not just of an era but of a writer wrestling with the American empire.

Rock stars who "went disco" crossed a musical rubicon and forever smashed cultural conformity. The ongoing dance-rock phenomenon demonstrates the impact of this unique place and time. The disco crossover forever changed rock.

In All the Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows, Robertson listens to and writes ecstatically about fifty of the band's most important and memorable concerts in order to better understand who the Grateful Dead were, what they became, and what they meant-and what they continue to mean.

Rock & Roll Nightmares, Volume 1 scratched the sinister surface with tales of the 27 Club, rock ‘n’ roll suicides, plane crashes, curses, and more. Now the award-winning series continues with concert mayhem, a look at the “baby groupie” trend of the 1970s, Satanic panic, horrific home invasions, musicians who’ve died on stage, rockers who lived on borrowed time, gun-toting music producers, deadly DJs, and much more.

Gigmentia is a reflection on the raw, challenging, and gritty vocation of a blue-collar musician living in the Pacific Northwest, and the varied adventures of a hard working, day-in day-out rock band. Introspective, insightful, and eloquently observed, Michael B. Koep chronicles a summer season of fifty rock shows performed in small clubs, huge bars, and on outdoor festival stages, in barns, backyards, and the middle of the woods.

Based on extensive research and interviews with some of the participants, Browne - a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and author of Fire and Rain and Dream Brother - vividly chronicles the year America went rock & roll in everything from politics to technology. The Spirit of '76 will make you think anew about an under-appreciated moment in the country - and will make you wonder if its optimistic, can-do spirit of reinvention and renewal will ever come again.

For 25 years, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has defined Cleveland’s image as the “Rock and Roll Capital of the World.” But while the Rock Hall has become an iconic landmark for the city of Cleveland and for fans of rock and roll around the world, it was just one missed phone call away from never being built in Cleveland. If the prominent singer and actress Lesley Gore hadn’t contacted radio personality Norm N. Nite in August 1983, the Hall of Fame would not be in Cleveland—period.

There are few artistic acts more mysterious than writing a song. But what if a shift in perspective - and some practical guidance - could overcome that mystery? Anyone wanting to experience more creativity and mindfulness will be inspired to do just that after listening to How to Write One Song. Why one song? The difference between one song and many songs isn't a charming semantic trick - it's an important distinction that can simplify a notoriously confusing art form.

When Pete Shelley, lead singer of legendary punk band Buzzcocks, passed away in 2018, we lost one of music's brightest stars - as well as the chance to hear his story. Or so it seemed. Recordings have surfaced of a series of remarkable interviews in which Pete tells the story of his life, his band and his place at the beating heart of the punk explosion in fascinating detail. These remarkable recordings have now been brought back to life by professional actors in this audio edition of Ever Fallen in Love: The Lost Buzzcocks Tapes.

Along Comes the Association is the story of how Russ Giguere and his fellow band members in the legendary and influential pop group The Association came together to create unparalleled music, unique to the time and place, and never again to be repeated.

ROBBIE WILLLIAMS is probably the hottest celebrity artist around. When he left Take That he firmly established himself and the burning question always was - "When will he rejoin?". Robbie has attitude, he does what he wants in a very confident way. This is not a music release by the artist or record label but an exclusive audiobiog in which we hear how he continues to be a workaholic, what motivates him, why he is so controversial and how he survives.

The '60s ended a year late - on New Year's Eve 1970, when Paul McCartney initiated proceedings to wind up The Beatles. Music would never be the same again. The next day would see the dawning of a new era. Nineteen seventy-one saw the release of more monumental albums than any year before or since and the establishment of a pantheon of stars to dominate the next 40 years - Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Rod Stewart, the solo Beatles and more.

Bob Gruen is one of the most well-known and connected photographers in rock and roll. For almost 50 years, he has documented the music scene in pictures that have captured the world's attention. Right Place, Right Time is Gruen's first written account of his winding, adventure-filled journey.

Respected broadcaster Alan Cross narrates the definitive history of alternative rock over the last 30 years. He recounts the stories of David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, The Clash, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and Iggy Pop.

The true, exciting, and endearing chronicle of a "Jersey Boy" scoring a #1 hit record and the life adventures he wasn't prepared for. This is so much more than a "rock bio". It's a sometimes dark and gritty tale of redemption involving: Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Rascals, Joe Pesci, Judy Garland, John Wayne, Jackie Kennedy, Nat "King" Cole, Shirley MacLaine, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, and Liberace, Salvador Dali, and Dick Clark. The list goes on and on.

Burning Man is the premier countercultural event of modern times, growing over 25 years from a strange San Francisco beach party into an experimental city of 50,000 colorful souls in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, which burns brightly for a week before dissolving into dusty memories and changed lives. Longtime newspaper journalist Steven T. Jones embedded himself in this blossoming culture starting in 2004, a dispiriting year for American politics but the beginning of Burning Man’s renaissance, when it exploded outward in unexpected ways. The result is the most in-depth book ever written ...

The untold story of Mick Mars, the driving force behind Motley Crue as told by his bandmate in their dues-paying era in the Hollywood rock scene of the mid- to late 1970s.

Hence this is a story without precedent, a story in which Elton John plays a royal funeral, Mick Jagger gets a knighthood, Bob Dylan picks up the Nobel Prize, the Beatles become, if anything, bigger than the Beatles and it's beginning to look as though all of the above will, thanks to the march of technology, be playing Las Vegas forever.

In this fantastic audiobook, Charles King talks us through more than one hundred facts about Led Zeppelin, one of the most highly respected rock bands in history. With the facts separated into chapters covering the members of the band, its history, the albums and more, you are sure to learn some fascinating new information about the band. So whether you’re a fan from back in the day or are only now beginning to appreciate classic rock music, this is the perfect audiobook for you!

BREAKFAST SPECIAL Wanderings in Hoboken INTRODUCTION I didn’t grow up in the city. I grew up in the heavily wooded suburbs of New Jersey. As a young man of 24, while studying fine arts at Ramapo College, I heard that Hoboken was on the verge of becoming an artists’ community. This was in 1976. I was looking for the next step in my life and took the commuter train to Hoboken with my younger brother Rich. Hoboken was a few years from becoming anything resembling a haven for artists. It was still shaking off the racial tension of the 1960s and there was an uneasy truce in the air between ...